In Justice, There's Love/Chapter Eight
Handling New duties Calls for war The lies and danger The scars he bore POV: Thornstrike When my sister came back from her hunt outside of camp, she looked flustered, and she was out of breath. There was no prey in her jaws, and by the troubled look in her eyes, I knew where she had been. Reaching her in two strides, and motioned with my tail for her to join me outside. She didn't even glance at me, and kept her head low as she followed obediantly. When we reached a safe place that would not be disrupted, I turned around. "You've been visiting Frostclaw haven't you?" I accused. Her eyes widened, "No!" She exclaimed, but her breathing quickened, "I was just out for a walk!" She growled, flattenening her ears. "You passed on information to a RushClan cat!" I shot back. Moonflight flinched. I stared at her in dsibelief, "I can't believe you," I spat, "You're a disgrace to our family, to StormClan. I never thought you would be the spy for RushClan!" She glared back, "I'm not! At least I didn't want to be." Her voice dropped, "I made a mistake." "Of course you made a mistake," I hissed, "You gave valuable information to Frostclaw that allowed them to kill Fawnsky!" "Aren't you happy then?" She snarled back, "With Fawnsky dead, you get to be the deputy you wanted to be all this time!" I didn't respond. Her shocked blue eyes stared back at me, and I whispered, "I won't tell Snowstar yet, but watch where you trod, Moonflight, I'll be watching you very carefully. Don't step out of line or it's over for you." I whirled around and stalked back to camp, furious that my sister would do such a thing. I should never have trusted her or that tom. I knew she was doing something suspicious at the RushClan border each time I found her there, but... But she had been right. I had been greedy for the position of deputyship ever since Snowstar told me that when Fawnsky was no longer deputy, the spot would go to me. I craved for it. And I craved for Fawnsky to stop being deputy, even if it meant her dying. I was just as sick as Moonflight. I crashed into Rainsong, who had been going towards the warriors' den. She stumbled back and opened her mouth to ask my something. Instead of hearing what she had to say, I pushed past her and curled up in my nest, willing sleep to engulf me. Moments later, I felt Rainsong's tail wrap around me, and her scent wreathed over me, soothing me despite the pain I still felt in my heart. My dreams were anything but peaceful. ~ When I woke up, I realized that I had to organize patrols. I shot out of my nest and saw Snowstar fending off questions about patrols. She definitely looked tired, and I quickly darted over there and started calling out names. "Okay, Flarefoot, why don't you take Smokepaw and Shatterpaw out for training." Snowstar had yet to give Shatterpaw a new mentor. "The patrols going out with be..." I listed a few names for each patrol, getting more and more flustered as the cats began to fade away and I couldn't find cats I needed to go on patrol. "Moonflight, you can take the other three apprentices, Creampaw, Tigerpaw, and Fogpaw out to clean out the dens." She gave me a harsh look, as if she knew exactly why I had given her such a rotten task. I continued to focus on the task at hand, and opened my mouth to give out more orders when Snowstar laid her tail on my shoulder. "You've sent out all the patrols, Thornstrike." Oh. Sagging, I realized that Rainsong was still sitting next to me. Her presence calmed me a bit, but as I pulled towards her, she broke away mewing, "I'm going to help Moonflight and the apprentices." I stared at her back as she stalked away, meeting the tiny group of cleaners have way through the clearing and joining them to be cleaning out the dens. "You know, you shouldn't be so harsh on Moonflight." One of the elders, Dewfoot was sitting behind him, grooming. "Why not?" I mewed haughtily, "There are more things even you don't understand." I pointed out. The elder laughed, though it sounded like a wheeze, "There's a lot of things you don't understand, young one. Just watch where you're going with her, sometimes even the hardest friendships are the ones you need most." Before I could ask what he meant, Dewfoot ambled back towards the den, where Moonflight and Rainsong were finishing up. I looked away from there. I would apologize soon, but I had matters to attend to. I stalked towards Snowstar's den, determined to see that my plan did not fail. "Snowstar? It's me, Thornstrike." "Come in." A tired voice answered me. Pushing my way instead, I sat down in front of Snowstar, "Snowstar, we need to forget about the spy and just attack RushClan." I mewed quickly, "A quick hit that would force them to surrender and leave us alone." It would work because I knew that Moonflight would not tell Frostclaw. She wouldn't even know. Snowstar stared at him with incredulous look, "Forget about the spy?" she rasped, "We cannot do that, Thornstrike. If we can dig out the spy, then we'll be safe from any of our information being transfered to RushClan paws." "But if we attack now, then we'll be able to beat them back! The spy won't have time to react and meet with a RushClan cat to tell them." I argued. Snowstar shook her head, "If you want to attack so badly, find me the spy first." She mewed, flicking her tail and dismissing me. As I backed out of the den, I saw Snowstar curl back up, looking fragile and weak. I had to find another way to defeat RushClan. Perhaps exploiting Moonflight would be the best choice.